Keller case coming to San Antonio

The judicial conduct commission’s case against Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller is now scheduled to be heard Aug. 17 in the courtroom of state District Judge David Berchelmann Jr. of San Antonio.

Berchelmann was named as special master in the case by the Texas Supreme Court.

Keller is accused of violating the court’s execution-day procedures in the case of death row inmate Michael Wayne Richard on Sept. 25, 2007. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct claims Keller’s actions cut off Richard’s appeals and led to his execution when a stay was possible.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier in the day had agreed to hear a Kentucky case on whether lethal injections such as those used in Kentucky and Texas amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Inmates who applied for stays of execution in the days after the high court’s action were given a stay of execution until the Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was legal.

Keller is accused of closing the court clerk’s office so Richards’ appeal could not be properly filed. Keller has said the fault lay with Richards’ lawyers because there were ways of filing the appeal directly with judges on the court.

The hearing is to determine whether any official action is necessary against Keller, ranging from a reprimand to removal from office.